
20.06 –
02.07.2024
Italian Premiere
Mattatoio, Rome
Pelanda, Foyer 1
Free Admission
Tue-Sun, h. 11am-8pm
Curated by
Johanne Affricot,
Eric Otieno Sumba

Whiteface (2022) brings together a wide range of found video footage documenting white people talking about race. Candice Breitz draws on a long-standing archive which includes the voices of prominent political figures, news anchors and talk show hosts, as well as those of lesser-known or anonymous YouTubers, covering white perspectives that run the gamut from neo-Nazi ideology and far right propaganda, to everyday racism and the posturing of “good white people”. Wearing nothing but a white dress-shirt and zombie contact lenses, Breitz rotates through a series of cheap blonde wigs as the work unfolds, among which her own platinum head of hair is featured. Breitz’s un-wigged appearance among the characters that populate the piece, serves to acknowledge her own embeddedness in whiteness. While some of the disembodied voices that Breitz lip-syncs to in Whiteface may be recognizable (Tucker Carlson, Rachel Dolezal, Bill Maher, Richard Spencer and Robin DiAngelo all make vocal cameos), the stinging satire doesn't hone in on particular white folks. Rather, it is the condition of whiteness that Breitz seeks to prod into visibility.
* Opening Reception ||| Thursday, 20 June, H. 7 PM *
Candice Breitz (b. 1972 in Johannesburg) is an artist whose moving-image installations have been shown internationally. Throughout Breitz’s career, she has explored the dynamics through which individuals become themselves in relation to a larger community, be that the immediate community that one encounters in family, or the real and imagined communities that are shaped not only by questions of national belonging, race, gender, and religion, but also by the increasingly undeniable influence of mainstream media such as television, cinema and other popular culture. Most recently, Breitz’s work has focused on the conditions under which empathy is produced, reflecting on a media-saturated global culture in which strong identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures runs parallel to widespread indifference to the plight of those facing real world adversity. In 2022, she completed The White Noise Trilogy, a trio of multichannel video installations that includes Love Story (2016), TLDR (2017), and Whiteface (2022). Breitz holds degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), the University of Chicago and Columbia University (NYC). She has participated in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Studio Program and led the Palais de Tokyo’s ‘Le Pavillon’ residency as a visiting artist during the years 2005-2006. She has been a professor at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Braunschweig (Braunschweig University of Art) since 2007. Breitz lives and works in Berlin.